You Owe? It's off to jail you go! (Return of Debtors Prisons?)

Damocles

Damocles

Accedo!
Staff member
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/jailed-for--280--the-return-of-debtors--prisons.html

How did breast cancer survivor Lisa Lindsay end up behind bars? She didn't pay a medical bill -- one the Herrin, Ill., teaching assistant was told she didn't owe. "She got a $280 medical bill in error and was told she didn't have to pay it," The Associated Press reports. "But the bill was turned over to a collection agency, and eventually state troopers showed up at her home and took her to jail in handcuffs."

Although the U.S. abolished debtors' prisons in the 1830s, more than a third of U.S. states allow the police to haul people in who don't pay all manner of debts, from bills for health care services to credit card and auto loans. In parts of Illinois, debt collectors commonly use publicly funded courts, sheriff's deputies, and country jails to pressure people who owe even small amounts to pay up, according to the AP.

More at link..
 
Damocles said:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/jailed-for--280--the-return-of-debtors--prisons.html

How did breast cancer survivor Lisa Lindsay end up behind bars? She didn't pay a medical bill -- one the Herrin, Ill., teaching assistant was told she didn't owe. "She got a $280 medical bill in error and was told she didn't have to pay it," The Associated Press reports. "But the bill was turned over to a collection agency, and eventually state troopers showed up at her home and took her to jail in handcuffs."

Although the U.S. abolished debtors' prisons in the 1830s, more than a third of U.S. states allow the police to haul people in who don't pay all manner of debts, from bills for health care services to credit card and auto loans. In parts of Illinois, debt collectors commonly use publicly funded courts, sheriff's deputies, and country jails to pressure people who owe even small amounts to pay up, according to the AP.

More at link..
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once more the system finds a way to prey on the poor
 
sorry Damo, thread fail.....the author of the OP was too stupid to recognize the difference between debtor's prison and getting a bench warrant for failing to respond to a court discovery order......if you show up for the discover hearing and tell the judge you don't have a pot to piss in you go home.....if you don't show up you are in contempt of court and if they pick you up for something else will put you in jail until the judge chews your ass for not showing up in response to his order, at which time you tell the judge you don't have a pot to piss in and you go home......
 
Yet Illinois isn't the only state where residents get locked up for owing money. A 2010 report by the American Civil Liberties Union that focused on only five states -- Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Washington -- found that people were being jailed at "increasingly alarming rates" over legal debts. Cases ranged from a woman who was arrested four separate times for failing to pay $251 in fines and court costs related to a fourth-degree misdemeanor conviction, to a mentally ill juvenile jailed by a judge over a previous conviction for stealing school supplies.

According to the ACLU: "The sad truth is that debtors' prisons are flourishing today, more than two decades after the Supreme Court prohibited imprisoning those who are too poor to pay their legal debts. In this era of shrinking budgets, state and local governments have turned aggressively to using the threat and reality of imprisonment to squeeze revenue out of the poorest defendants who appear in their courts."

From the OP link
 
Rune said:
Yet Illinois isn't the only state where residents get locked up for owing money. A 2010 report by the American Civil Liberties Union that focused on only five states -- Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Washington -- found that people were being jailed at "increasingly alarming rates" over legal debts. Cases ranged from a woman who was arrested four separate times for failing to pay $251 in fines and court costs related to a fourth-degree misdemeanor conviction, to a mentally ill juvenile jailed by a judge over a previous conviction for stealing school supplies.

According to the ACLU: "The sad truth is that debtors' prisons are flourishing today, more than two decades after the Supreme Court prohibited imprisoning those who are too poor to pay their legal debts. In this era of shrinking budgets, state and local governments have turned aggressively to using the threat and reality of imprisonment to squeeze revenue out of the poorest defendants who appear in their courts."

From the OP link
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there's a special session in the local court for Show Cause hearings every monday.....my hearings are generally held right after so I've had plenty of opportunity to listen in on them.....

Show Cause hearings are for people who've been picked up for something over the weekend (drunk driving, etc) and who have bench warrants outstanding that require them to appear before the court....

generally they involve people who've been sentenced to thirty days in jail OR a $200 fine....the court has given them a payment plan which requires them to pay $25 a month until it's paid.....usually they've been in front of the judge already for three or four show causes for not making their payments and he's given them another chance......finally he runs out of patience and tells them they are going to serve their thirty day sentence.....

this is NOT debtor prison.....
 
bravo said:
Wipe you mouth, theres still a tiny bit of bullshit around your lips....
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You wish them to be imprisoned instead of affordable healthcare or other measures that relieve the burden on our citizens. Those profit prisons love you Popeye.
 
All you need to do is modify the law to say its ok to steal goods and services from others under certain circumstances.....then define the circumstances.....

Like....its ok to steal food if you're hungry......

Or its ok to steal gas if your tank is empty.....

Or its ok to steal money from others if they have too much.....
 
bravo said:
All you need to do is modify the law to say its ok to steal goods and services from others under certain circumstances.....then define the circumstances.....

Like....its ok to steal food if you're hungry......

Or its ok to steal gas if your tank is empty.....

Or its ok to steal money from others if they have too much.....
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Okay to die of breast cancer if you don't have the money for medical treatment.
 
Rana said:
Okay to die of breast cancer if you don't have the money for medical treatment.
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The poor are covered and treatment is the law of the land....every hear of Medicaid....?

Ever hear of working and saving for an emergency.......
 
bravo said:
The poor are covered and treatment is the law of the land....every hear of Medicaid....?

Ever hear of working and saving for an emergency.......
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Sure, but, some people don't qualify for Medicaid, and some people have only enough money to cover living expenses, so they should just die or go to prison when they become ill.

You are a strange one bravo, you say people should go on Medicaid, but you don't want affordable healthcare for all.
 
PostmodernProphet said:
sorry Damo, thread fail.....the author of the OP was too stupid to recognize the difference between debtor's prison and getting a bench warrant for failing to respond to a court discovery order......if you show up for the discover hearing and tell the judge you don't have a pot to piss in you go home.....if you don't show up you are in contempt of court and if they pick you up for something else will put you in jail until the judge chews your ass for not showing up in response to his order, at which time you tell the judge you don't have a pot to piss in and you go home......
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Obviously you didn't read the article, the author identified this. However, an end run unavailable in most areas using the system with the result of putting people in debt in jail is still putting people who owe in jail...
 
Damocles said:
Obviously you didn't read the article, the author identified this. However, an end run unavailable in most areas using the system with the result of putting people in debt in jail is still putting people who owe in jail...
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sorry, the OP is a lame attempt to lay the blame for something on something else.....if people are going to jail, it's because they were driving drunk not because they're in debt......
 
PostmodernProphet said:
sorry, the OP is a lame attempt to lay the blame for something on something else.....if people are going to jail, it's because they were driving drunk not because they're in debt......
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No, it isn't because they are driving drunk. They are targeted and put in jail because they owe, and for no other reason. They use the system in a unique way to do this, but that is what is being done.

I am a results oriented person, pretending that the result doesn't matter so long as they didn't show up to a court date about the debt and it's "all good" is just pretense.
 
PostmodernProphet said:
sorry Damo, thread fail.....the author of the OP was too stupid to recognize the difference between debtor's prison and getting a bench warrant for failing to respond to a court discovery order......if you show up for the discover hearing and tell the judge you don't have a pot to piss in you go home.....if you don't show up you are in contempt of court and if they pick you up for something else will put you in jail until the judge chews your ass for not showing up in response to his order, at which time you tell the judge you don't have a pot to piss in and you go home......
Click to expand...


sorry, this response is a lame attempt to lay the blame for something on something else.....if poor people are going to jail for being in debt, it's because they're in debt......
 
I'm having some difficulty in seeing how these business' are allowed to use the courts as debt collectors. what does the court do? send them a copy of the bill?
 
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